


Trust

by serenbach



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21539311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenbach/pseuds/serenbach
Summary: They weren't friends, but the Watcher had saved her anyway, and The Devil of Caroc couldn't help but wonder why.
Relationships: The Watcher (Pillars of Eternity) & The Devil of Caroc
Kudos: 10





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a Pillars Prompt Weekly event a while ago (the prompt was The Devil, wine and trust), based on my in-game experience of the Lift in Durgan's Battery and I am still quite fond of it.
> 
> The Devil of Caroc and my Watcher developed a really weird friendship, and I love it. 
> 
> Featuring my Moon Godlike Paladin, Nelda.

Devil pushed her way out of Stalwart’s shitty inn, almost stumbling over Nelda as she sat huddled on the front porch. The Watcher smiled at her, albeit a little warily. She was dressed for the cold, the collar of her coat turned up to cover her ears, and in her gloved hands she held a steaming mug of mulled wine.

Devil would have sighed, if she could. “Gods, I miss alcohol.” She folded herself down so that she was sitting next to Nelda, eyeing her mug wishfully.

Nelda grimaced apologetically and made as if she was going to tip the wine away.

She groaned. “Stop with that bleeding-heart crap and just drink it already.”

Nelda laughed, her breath visible in the cold air, and took a sip, and as she tipped her head back Devil saw the burn on the side of her neck and her ear that had brought her in search of the Watcher.

That day had been harrowing, to say the least. They had managed to repair the lift in the Battery, but riding it had been something of a disaster. The mechanisms had jammed as terrible creatures swooped down on them, and Devil herself had almost been knocked from the lift as she attempted to repair it.

It had been a long time since she had felt any sort of real fear. But dangling precariously over the edge of the lift, nothing beneath her but a drop that would have smashed her artificial body to pieces, as some sort of monster tried to prise her hands from the death grip on the lever, she had screamed in a soul-deep terror that she didn’t think she was still capable of.

She couldn’t think of anything worse than her soul still being stuck in this body when it was broken and still.

Nelda had saved her. She had thrown herself across the lift and pulled her up, even as a monster raked its claws across her scalp and spat _something –_ fire or acid or some shit like that – all down her neck. Devil was sure that she would have smelled the burning, if she had been able.

Nelda had howled with pain right in Devil’s face as she pulled her up, but she hadn’t let go. She’d even patted her on the arm afterwards, like she had forgotten that she couldn’t feel it, like she thought she needed comforting.

(She would never admit that she _had_ found it comforting.)

The burn looked better now, she noted. Nelda had used her own Paladin healing power, and the dirty priest had cast a few of his own spells, but it was still a stark brand on the side of her neck that Nelda had got for saving _her_.

Devil tried not to dwell on things, but she had been dwelling on that. 

After a few moments of not-quite-comfortable silence, she pointed at it, and said, “How is it?”

Nelda shrugged. She looked more tired than normal. “It’ll heal. I’ll give it another go tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Devil said, before the awkwardness could settle in again. Nelda frowned enquiringly at her. “You know, for…” she trailed off, pointing at the burn again.

Nelda nodded, not making her clarify what she meant. “Of course.”

“It’s not ‘of course,’” Devil scoffed. “You didn’t have to help me. We’re not friends. I’m not… you didn’t have to save me.”

“We’re not _not_ friends though,” Nelda replied, her lip quirking up in an odd sort of smile.

“I guess,” Devil replied dubiously, trying to follow her way to the end of that sentence.

“And you’ve saved me plenty since we’ve met so it’s only fair.”

“That’s… true,” Devil replied slowly, thinking of all the traps she had disarmed, and monsters she had backstabbed.

“And you are worth saving,” Nelda finished firmly.

Devil snorted. “Bleeding-heart. You’re going to get yourself killed someday.”

“Maybe,” Nelda shrugged, sipping at her wine. “But we all lived to fight another day, today at least.”

Devil didn’t answer, and after a moment Nelda stood and stretched, her spine audibly clicking. She shivered and wrapped one arm around herself, the other holding the empty mug.

“I’m going to try and get some sleep,” she said, her hand raising as if she was going to press it against the burn on her neck, but thought against it at the last moment. “It’s been a long day, and tomorrow, we’ve got time to track down Harmke, if you’re ready.”

“Oh, I’m ready,” she answered, her hand drifting to her knife.

Nelda nodded, her expression grave, but understanding. “Good night, then, Dev.” Nelda patted her shoulder before returning inside. 

Devil stared after her. There was a part of her, as there always was, that envied Nelda the cold and the wine, and even the pain. But she knew that of all the people she could have fallen in with, Nelda at least, would always have her back.

That wasn’t a bad thing at all. 


End file.
